"Red Bull is still struggling with limitations," claims Verstappen after his stellar performance in qualifying
Despite taking his third pole position of the season, reigning champion Max Verstappen claimed that he still feels the limitations of his car that has been persistent since the start of the season.
It was a day of extremes for Max Verstappen. The Dutchman was classified last in the Sprint race because of a penalty for an error that was not really his fault. However, he then went on to set the fastest time in qualifying, beating the McLaren of Lando Norris and the Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Verstappen, who has just become a father to baby Lilly, took his third pole of the season, with his best time of 1’26”204 having become a new outright lap record for the Miami International Autodrome circuit.
Asked whether he managed to extract the absolute maximum from the car in his second run of Q3, Verstappen said that he had a small mistake into Turn 1.
"I think apart from entry to Turn 1, yes. But yeah, it's just been really tricky to get the tyres in the right window over a whole lap. So I think in hindsight… Of course, you never want to have a little oversteer moment on entry, but over the whole lap I did feel a bit more comfortable.
"So yeah, of course, very happy to be in pole. I think every qualifying, like Q1, Q2, Q3, just kept on chipping away at it and just kept on improving a little bit. So that's exactly what you want.
Having found a couple of tenths between run one and run two in Q3, Verstappen explained that the time came in Turns "7–8 and then a little bit in the second sector. And then I think a tiny bit in the last corner maybe. So yeah, little bits everywhere."
Red Bull have introduced upgrades to the car for this weekend, having equipped the RB21 with a modified floor. The Dutchman said that while the upgrade worked, Red Bull is still battling with limitations.
"I mean, we are still struggling a little bit with our limitations in the car, but I do think that we've been quite decent over a lap, if you look at the cornering, we're a bit slow on the straight this week. Then I think especially McLaren and Mercedes, and they took a new engine and of course that always gives a little bit more power than a used engine.
"But yeah, it seems like it's a little bit better. Of course, the long run is a different story. The tyres get really hot around here. But of course tomorrow I don't know what will happen in terms of rain or not, how warm it will be. To be honest, the colder it is I think the better.
"I mean, coming into the weekend I knew that this was not our strongest track with all the low speed, but actually I think when you look at the data it's probably not even most of our problem around the lap. So I guess that is already a positive."
As for the prospects for today's Miami race, Verstappen stated: "I don't know, to be honest. No one has really done any proper long running because of also the Sprint race being wet mainly. So yeah, I just try to do the best I can to manage my tyres to what the car can do, and then we'll see what that will bring us."
